I was enjoying some blogs found here, and from there here and here.  One of those blogs posted this question “Could Modesty Just Be More Fun?”

My instant response was YES! Absolutely yes.  In a world where modesty is not found all that often, being different from the mob can be absolutely the most fun imaginable.  It is easy to discuss modesty based on the most obvious element, clothing, but it is not the only aspect of modesty; that said, I’m going to talk clothing first.

There is the wide variety of clothing styles NOT being worn much these days, and there are the joys of discovering in the current styles those pieces which fit in nicely with a modest wardrobe. I love retro and with the interesting modern re-creations based on retro styles, a gal can find a lot of inspiration and even some patterns.  There are some truly lovely ladies vests out there based on men’s vest styles from the past.  Getting creative is also part of modesty in dress.

The challenge of finding modest clothing in a shopping world where most people buying for stores and designing for stores equate modesty with FRUMP.    I could do an entire rant about how UGLY much of what stores offer as modest looks on any woman who wears it. There is simply no excuse for buying from designers who are not competent to design for real women.  Hence, few shops get my money.

Part of the fun of modesty is in finding the dress for work that meets your personal standard for modesty and style.  Sometimes that requires a pattern that you alter to meet the standard, a different neckline, different fabrics. If you love to sew, choosing modesty in dress is great inspiration for sewing projects.

Some of the fun of modesty is in the reactions of other people.

It is fun when someone comes up and asks about your skirt because they find it pretty and you discover a kindred “I love the long skirts” spirit.  It is like a secret sisterhood of women who long for the femininity of a long skirt.

It is fun to look in the mirror and see how nice you look.  I love it when an outfit comes together.  I also love observing people when I am out and about with friends who also dress modestly.

Clothing is only one aspect of modesty, and the other aspects can also be fun!  It is fun to discover ways to enjoy activities without compromising one’s sense of modesty.  Take the beach for example.

Oh, the stories I could tell!

For one thing, wading in the waves at the beach in clothing that covers can be fun.  A skirt tied up to the side to keep it above the knees still catches the breeze.  Knee length shorts underneath to preserve modesty are excellent.  A tank top with a light blouse over it, sleeves rolled to the elbows, completes the picture.  It was fun, my friend and I had a wonderful time.

It was fun, we got wet, we didn’t get sunburned, and we had a lot of discussion about the amount of attention we’d gotten–which we had neither intended nor expected.  From my observation of the men jogging the beach, a modestly dressed gal at the beach is clearly something men enjoy seeing. We had thought that without any skin showing there would be nothing to look at, nothing to interest other people but apparently that was not the case, in addition to the men I observed watching my friend there were others who noticed us as well.

We had hardly noticed that, closest to where we were enjoying the wind, water, sand and sun, were women who had chosen to lay out to tan wearing string bikinis.  Only later did it occur to either of us that these ladies were that close to the water to be as close as possible to the men who were jogging on the beach.  Men who were not looking at them. This was apparently upsetting the barely clad ladies.  Two got up, walked over to us, walked between where I sat on the sand and the slightly deeper water where my friend was playing with the waves, and very carefully and loudly called us a couple of sluts.  I nearly died laughing!

That is just the thing about modesty.  It is fun and innocent and then odd things happen which make you realize that something more is going on.

What else is going on when a woman decides to dress modestly as an expression of her over-all desire for modesty?

That my dear readers must be another post.